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There were voices in the woods close by--loud, clear, gay voices--that had no suggestion of trouble or thought in them. The boat had been pulled up under a bank all emerald with dripping ferns, and gay with starry, yellow blossoms. It was an ideal setting to a love duct, but the king frowned despite the noisy buoyancy of the voices in the woods. A king is not used to intrusions of this kind, and he of Montenana resented the fact accordingly. Then a half-smile touched the corners of his lips as he saw a pretty piquant face glancing through an opening in the leaves, and regarding Nita and himself with unmistakable mischief. The girl was dressed in some light, summer costume, her great, gray eyes looked half reproachfully, half-mischievously from under the brim of her straw hat. She did not appear to be unduly embarrassed; she made no stammering apology for the intrusion; on the contrary, she laughed merrily.
"Found," she cried, "found at last! What ho! my comrades. Come and see how our gracious queen passes her time!"